Ms. Rancher's Class
2022-2023 School Year
Ms. Rancher has been proudly teaching young students in the state of Alabama since 2022. She prides herself on establishing inclusivity in her classroom along with building strong relationships each and every student. To learn more about her and style of teaching, simply browse through the site.
About Me
Hello, my name is Ms. Rancher!!! Recently, I received my Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from Auburn University. My goal as a teacher is to provide an inclusive academic experience to every student I meet. These new generation of students deserve educators that are motivated to teach and inspire them. Through my field experiences, I have been able to identify key early developmental steps that promote teaching reading. Reading fluency and comprehension open the doors to a world full of information. There are many stages to reading and below are links to a lessons I have designed, specifically for these stages. Enjoy!
Emergent Literacy
Emergent Literacy Design
Making Muffins with Mary
Rationale:
This lesson will help children identify /m/, the phoneme represented by M. Students will learn to recognize /m/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (making the “mmmm” sound, as if something is yummy) and the letter symbol M. The children will practice finding /m/ in words and apply phoneme awareness with /m/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters. This lesson will allow students to identity the letter M effortlessly.
Materials:
Primary paper and pencil
Chart with the tongue tickler “Mary makes Muffins on Mondays”
Word cards with “MAKE, LAKE, MONTH, CAMP, SOUP, MOUSE, and WARM”
Drawing paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils
Assessment worksheet with various pictures for children to identify which words start with /m/. (link attached at bottom)
Dr. Seuss's ABC Book (Random House, 1963)
Procedures:
1. Say: Our language is full of many interesting letters! We can think of it as a secret code. It can sometimes be tricky to learn what the letters stand for. Today we will be learning all about the letter M. We will work on spotting the mouth move for /m/ which is spelled with the letter M. M makes the noise “mmm” just like the noise you may make when you eat something delicious!
2. Say: Now I want everyone to think of your favorite food! Once you have an image of your favorite food in your head, I want you to rub your belly and say “mmmm”. What happens to your lips when you say “mmm”? Your lips are pressed together! When we say /m/ our mouth stays closed.
3. Say: Let me show you how to find /m/ in different words. Let’s try the word camp. I’m going to stretch camp out in super slow motion, and I want you to listen for the sound “mmm”. Cccc-a-a-a-mmmmmp. Did you hear the /m/? I felt the “m” when saying lamp while my lips were pressed together.
4. Say: Now, let’s say a tongue tickler! (pull out chart with tongue tickler) “Mary makes Muffins on Mondays.” Now let’s say it three times together. This time let’s stretch out the /m/ at the beginning of the words. “Mmmmary mmmmakes Mmmmufifins on Mmmmondays.” Now let’s try it again and this time we are going to break /m/ off the word. “/M/ary /m/akes /M/uffins on /M/ondays.”
5. *Have students take out primary paper and pencil* We use the letter M to spell /m/. I will demonstrate how to write the lowercase and uppercase letter M. To make the uppercase M we start at the sidewalk, go way up to the rooftop, bounce down to the fence, go back up to the rooftop, and end by coming all the way back down to the sidewalk. To make the lowercase m, we start at the sidewalk and then make two humps that bounce up to touch the fence. I want you to make 10 uppercase M’s and then ten lowercase m’s.
6. Use the word cards for students to identify the words with M. Ex: pull out the card that says “MOUSE” and ask if they hear the /m/ sound in that word. Next, pull out the card that says “SOUP” and ask if they hear the /m/ sound in that word. I will say “If you hear the /m/ sound in a word I say, I want you to say /mmm/ and rub your belly. If you do not hear the /m/ sound, I want you to say “next!” for the next word.”
7. Say: “Now, we will be looking at an alphabet book! Dr. Seuss tells up about many mumbling mice making music in the moonlight.” Read the page with the letter M and draw out the /m/ as I read. Then have students think of a silly name for their mice I will have them draw. For example, they can all draw mice on their paper and name it “Mickey” or “Maddie” or anything that starts with the letter M. I will ask them to color their drawing after it is completed.
8. To finish up the lesson, I will distribute the worksheets. The worksheet will count as their assessment. Students are to draw lines to the pictures that start with the letter m. After the students have correctly matched the pictures, they will color the pictures of the things that start with the letter m.
Resources:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/murrayel.html
Book: https://murraba.wixsite.com/reading-lessons/el
Assessment worksheet: https://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/m-begins1.htm
Beginning Reading
Beginning Reading Design
Ride a Bike with Mike
Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing i_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (Ride a Bike with Mike), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence i_e = /I/.
Materials:
Graphic image of Mike riding a bike, cover-up critter, whiteboard or Smartboard letterbox for modeling and individual letterboxes for each student, letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: B, a, e , c, g, n, m, k, j, s, f, w, t, r, d, p, listing of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: tie, mike, hide, bike, vine, ride, mine, spike, sprite; decodable text: Nate’s Bike Ride and assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /I/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /I/ is with the letter i and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say I’s name. [Write i_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after i, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word ride? “I can ride my bike.” Ride means to be carried or supported in this sentence. To spell ride in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /r/I/d/. I need 3 boxes. I heard the /I/ just before the /d/ so I’m going to put an I in the second box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /r/, that’s easy; I need an r. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /r//I//d/. I think I heard /I/ so I’ll put an I right after the r. Now /I/, hmm . . . /r//I//d/, I think I heard the letter /d/ so I need an d.
2. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for tie. A tie is something you make when you tie your shoe, “While putting on your shoes in the morning, you will need to Tie the strings.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /I/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: Mike, Mike is excited to ride his bike; Mike. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: M – i – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: hide; I need to hide my toy. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /I/ in it before you spell it: vine; a monkey swings on vine in the jungle. Did you need a silent e? Why? Right, because we hear I in vine. We spell it with our short vowels i_e. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: spike; can we spike the volleyball? One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: sprite; If I drink a sprite, then I may be thirsty. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
3. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with sprite on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel i. It must say /I/. I’m going to use a cover-up to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /s//p/ = /sp/ + /r/ = /spr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /I/ = /spri/. Now all I need is the end, /t/ = /sprIt/. Sprite; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]
4. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /I/: i_e. Now we are going to read a book called Nate’s Bike Ride. This is a story of a boy named Nate. Nate’s friend, Tim, is trying to get him to come outside and play. Nate just wants to sit inside and watch tv all day. Eventually, Tim tries to trick Nate into coming outside. We will have to read the story to see if comes outside to play. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Nate’s Bike Ride to see if he came outside to ride his bike. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Nate’s Bike Ride aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
5. Say: That was a fun story. Did Nate come outside to ride his bike? Right, Tim was able to convince Nate to come outside and ride bikes together. What did Tim attach to Nate’s bike? Right, a kite. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /I/ = i_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices and decide which i_e word fits best to make sense of this very short story. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
Resources:
Murray, B. Letterbox Lesson. Reading Genie: https://www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Murray/e/B07VH5LHWG?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060
Assessment Worksheet: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/10-free-i-e-worksheets/
Growing Independence and Fluency
Growing Independence and Fluency Design
Charlotte's Fluency Web
Rationale:
In order to comprehend reading, we must become fluent readers. Effortless word recognition allows students to reflect on what they are reading. Through reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading, students will be able to confidently improve their reading rate and grow into fluent readers. Student will gain fluency and independence in reading by crosschecking after reading decodable texts and repeat readings.
Materials:
1. Pencils
2. Timer/Stopwatch for each student
3. Paper
4. Coverup Critters
5. Teacher Fluency Checklist
6. Peer Checklist (one for each student)
7. Copy of Charlotte’s Web (class group set)
Procedures:
1. Say: “Today we are going to achieve one of our goals in becoming fluent readers. What does it mean to be a fluent reader?” [listen to responses]. A fluent reader is someone who is able to read quickly and smoothly due to their ability to recognize words. When we read with fluency, we comprehend more of the story and the story becomes more exciting. To become fluent readers, we must be able to recognize a large amount of site word, or words we know automatically, without having to decode them.”
2. Say: “Now let’s look at a sentence written on the board”: ‘The spider spun a web.’ Everyone put your listening ears on. I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read this sentence aloud to you. “The s-s-p-i-i-i-d-e-e-r, s-p-i-d-e-r, oh spider. The spider spoon a web.” Wait a second, that does not make sense. It must be spun. The spider spun a web. Did you notice I got stuck on a word when I read the sentence? To figure out what the word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word spun said, spoon. That did not make sense, did it? To correct myself, I went back and reread the sentence to figure out which word made the most sense. This strategy of rereading is called crosschecking. It is super important to use crosschecking when we are learning to become fluent readers. Since I figured out these hard words while reading, it helped me become fluent. Here’s how a fluent reader would have read the sentence: “The spider spun a web.” I read the sentence smoothly and fluently, which means that it was much easier to understand.”
3. Say: “Now lets think back to when I read the first sentence and got stuck on the word spun. To be able to figure out what the word was, I had to reread the sentence from the beginning and try to figure out what the word spun said; I pronounced it like the word spoon. This was a little confusing, so I reread the sentence to figure out what the word should say to make the sentence sound better. This is called crosschecking and it is especially important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers!”
4. Say: “Now I want you all to read the book, Charlotte’s Web. We are going to practice being fluent readers while reading this book. In this book, a spider named Charlotte discovers that a young pig, Wilbur, is in danger of being killed by the farmer. Charlotte has a plan spun in her web in order to save Wilber from the farmer and let him live. How do you think Charlotte will try and save Wilbur? You will have to keep reading to find out.
5. After the students read the first 10 pages silently to themselves, I will put them in pairs to reread the first couple of pages without helping each other. I will give each pair a copy of the book, a timer, a fluency checklist, a pencil, and a reading time sheet. Then say, “We do repeated readings because they help us become fluent readers. The more we read a story, the better we will be able to read and comprehend the story.”
6. Say: “You and your partner are going to read twice each to help build fluency. You will take turns being the reader and one will be the timer. The timer will time your partner reading the book and record their time on the reading rate chart. When you are the one timing your partner, be sure to hit start as soon as they start reading and hit stop when they are done. Record all the times on the chart. After your partner has read the assigned pages, see if you have made improvement.” Before the students start reading, I will model how to fill in the fluency checklist and use the timer. I will then observe students reading the book. I will walk around the room and answer any questions the students may have. I will also make sure that they are filling in the correct time. I will then explain, “As you listen to your partner read, I want you to be listening for how their reading changes each time. Do they remember more words? Read faster? Read smoother? Please mark these changes that you notice on your paper.”
7. After the students are done reading with their partner, I will ask them to come to my desk one at a time to read the first two pages to me. They will bring their record sheet with them, so I can attach it to their assessment sheet. As they read, I will time them on the read-aloud and use the formula given to record how many words-per-minute they read.
8. Each day I will set a certain amount time for the students to get together with their partners and practice. After a week of reading, I will assess each student individually and give them different partners. This will allow for them to see how another student is reading and what they could learn from them.
Reading Comprehension Worksheet:
1. Why did Fern’s father decide to keep the pig and not kill it?
2. How did Wilbur stay warm at night?
3. What did Charlotte try to teach Wilbur to do?
4. Why is Charlotte feeling content and peaceful?
Fluency Checklist:
Title of Book: ______________________________
Students Name: _________________________ Date: ___________
Partner’s Name: _________________________
After 2nd Reading After 3rd Reading
______ __ ______ __ Remembered more words
______ __ ________ Read faster
______ __ ________ Read smoother
________ ________ Read with more expression
(Words x 60) / seconds = WPM
0 - - - - 10 - - - - 20 - - - - 30 - - - - 40 - - - - 50 - - - - 60 - - - - 70 - - - - 80 - - - - 90 - - - - 100
Correct Words Per Minute
Resources:
Book: Charlotte's Web. First edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952.
Murray, Bruce. The Reading Genie, http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/
Mitchel, Emily. A Growing Independence and Fluency Lesson, https://sites.google.com/site/thefluencyfox/
Reading to Learn
Reading to Learn Design
Swimming into Visualization
Rationale:
Young readers are often defined as “learning to read”, but it is important to transition to “reading to learn”. This means, no longer simply learning how to pronounce and process words, and instead learning how to comprehend what is being read. Visualization is an effective strategy for reading comprehension. This means imagining images and scenes of what we are reading in a text. Students who have learned how to do so will often create “mental movies” to imagine what they are reading. This helps them to better visualize, and therefore remember, what they are reading. This lesson will help students learn to visualize as they read through explicit modeling, independent guided practice, and partner practice. This will be done through multiple readings using pictures to explain key parts. There will also be opportunities for practice while students read a passage and visualize the text and scenes in their imagination.
Materials:
Text: Sand Tiger Shark (one copy for each student)
Lined Paper
Pencils
Crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc.
Critical thinking questions printed or shown in some way
Class set of individual white boards
White board markers
Questions for this text:
Name a way that Sand Tiger Sharks are different from most sharks.
The article states that Sand Tiger Sharks survive well in captivity. Based on what you read, why might this be the case?
Most of the characteristics in the article help the Sand Tiger Sharks to find food. Why are these characteristics important?
Assessment:
The teacher will look at the students’ work and grade based on the following 6-point scale:
The student created a picture or series of pictures for their visualization: (2) ______
The student’s pictures are accurate and show comprehension (2) ______
The student’s answers to the questions are accurate and show understanding (2) ______
Procedures:
Say, “Good morning class! Today we are going to practice a great way to comprehend what we are reading. Can anyone tell me what comprehension means?’ Allow students to respond. “Very good! Being able to comprehend means that you understand and remember what you are reading. The strategy we are using today is called visualization. This means creating a “movie” in your mind that goes along with what you are reading.”
Say, “Today we are going to read an article about Sand Tiger Sharks. While we do so we are going to practice using visualization to create a mental movie. But first, we are going to review some important vocabulary that you might need for this reading. The first word we are going to review is gills. Can anyone tell me what gills are?” [allow students to try to answer] “Very good! Gills are little slits on the sides of most fish that they use to breathe. Now our second word is buoyant. Can anyone give me a definition for buoyant?” [allow answer time] “Very good! Buoyant means being able to stay afloat and rise to the top of a liquid or gas. Our third word is ferocious. Can anyone tell me what ferocious means?” [allow response time] “That’s okay, this is why we are going over these. Ferocious means scary or violent. Our last word is predator. Can anyone tell me what predator means?” [allow response time] “Very good! A predator is an animal that hunts others.”
Pass out individual white boards and markers. Say: Now we are going to play a review game with these words. I am going to say a sentence with a blank and you are going to write down what word you think goes in the blank on your white board. Then when I say "now!" you are going to hold up your boards so I can see your answers. I want to see what everyone knows on their own so do not look at someone else's answers. Okay your first sentence is "the (blank) shark has sharp teeth." (allow students to write down answers) "Okay now!" (look at the answers to get an idea of the students' understanding of the word) "Very good! Can someone share what they wrote? (let student answer or call on student) That's right! The ferocious shark has sharp teeth! The next sentence is "the rubber duck in the bathtub is (blank)" okay ready now!" (look at the answers for understanding) "Very good! Can someone share what they wrote?" (let student answer or call on student) That's right! The rubber duck in the bathtub is buoyant! The next sentence is "Humans breathe using lungs but fish breathe using (blank)." Okay ready, now!" (look at answers for feedback) "Very good! Someone tell me what you wrote!" (allow student to answer or call on student) "That's right! Humans breathe using lungs, but fish breathe through gills! Your last sentence is "A lion is a (blank) of a zebra." (Allow time) "Now! Very good! Can someone read the word they wrote?" (Allow student to read or call on a student) "That's right! A lion is a predator of a zebra."
Say, “Okay, now I’m going to demonstrate how I might visualize a section of the passage. Make sure you are listening carefully! [Teacher reads the first paragraph, not showing any pictures.]” Teacher closes eyes for a moment, showing children process of thinking about pictures] I see a group of sharks. All breath through their gills and all of them come up to the surface to bring air in. Most of the sharks swim back down but one stays at the top and begins to float!”
Say, “Now I would like for you to try to imagine while I read. So, close your eyes while I read the second paragraph.” [Teacher reads the second paragraph of the article]. “Now I want you to turn and talk to someone and tell them what your visualization or mental movie looked like.” [Allow students about 1 minute to talk]. Say: “Would anyone like to share what they or their partner said?” [Allow for about 3-5 students to share and provide positive feedback].
Say: “Now, with your partner, finish reading the article. When you get to the end, tell each other what you visualized. Then, draw a picture or series of pictures for your visualization on a piece of paper. If you have time, use colored pencils or crayons to color in your picture.” [Allow students about 10-15 minutes to complete this].
Say: “Now, to show that your visualization worked, answer these questions on the back of your paper.” [pass out critical thinking questions that go along with the text]
Resources:
https://sites.google.com/site/msdyessresearchbasedctrd3000/home/reading-to-learn-design
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/sand-tiger-shark/#sand-tiger-shark-close-teeth.jpg
Maynard, Amy. Reading to Learn Design, https://amm0115.wixsite.com/readinglessondesign/reading-to-learn-design